By Mubanga Mubanga
Vedanta will have to go if they fail to honour their pledges, says Chingola mayor Johnson Kang’ombe.
In an interview with Daily Revelation, Kang’ombe said the Chingola Council has put in mechanisms that will ensure that Vedanta fulfils its promises, including sitting down with them to open a separate account specifically for corporate social responsibility.
Reminded that the same Vedanta failed to honour previous pledges in the previous arrangement with the state, Kang’ombe said the UPND was a different administration to the PF, arguing that under the government of late president Levy Mwanawasa, the mine was operating properly and even employed over 5000 people.
“My brother it is leadership. Every organisation rise and fall because of leadership. It is leadership that matters. You can be getting the same salary with your neighbor, but you can see your neighbor progressing. And the only difference is leadership. So now is new dawn leadership and we have engaged Vedanta in such a manner where they are going to honor whatever corporate social responsibility for the people of Chingola, which will be a US$5 million,” Kang’ombe said. “As a mayor of Chingola l will sit with Vedanta to see to it that we open a separate account specifically for corporate social responsibility on behalf of the people of Chingola so that we take account of were that money is going. And the other issue is we are not going to leave Vedanta the way they used to operate.”
However, Nchanga member of parliament (UPND) Chilundika has opposed his own ruling party’s position against re-engaging the mining company.
But Kang’ombe said he was speaking as “mayor for Chingola”, and “born and bred in Chingola.”
“As mayor of Chingola, this same Vedanta has been owing the people of Chingola, the same KCM mine, k72 millioM. And you know when the mine was put into Liquidation it was killing the mine, killing the company, all the workers in KCM were paid their dues, and as the local authority they were still owing us K72 in terms of rates. So the coming in of Vedanta is something we cherish as mayor of Chingola, with the package which they have come with come with,” he said.
He argued that the former PF administration made the wrong decision to liquidate the mine, claiming that KCM had become a “cash cow” where every “jim and jack” could get envelopes.
“In Mwanawasa it was still the same Vedanta that recruited over 5000 workers, which is miner’s country wide. It is still the same Vedanta which was paying corporate social responsibility to the people of Chingola in Mwanawasa regime. So all that I’m saying is the same Vedanta is doing well in South Africa, Namibia where they are running mines,” Kang’ombe said. “lf somebody is not in agreement my brother, all we can say is that in my father’s house there so many mansions. And the decision of government is a collective decision, me as a mayor of Chingola I am very happy because KCM was dying my brother anytime, ngatwali umfwa closure ams mines nga Bali senda ama jerabo (we were just going to hear that the mine has been closed and jerabos have taken over.”
Kang’ombe said Chilundika, recently dismissed as Luapula Province minister by President Hakainde Hichilema, could speak for the people of Nchanga, but he was speaking for the wider community of Chingola which also houses Nchanga constituency.
“He can have different opinion but my opinion is it is a good thing to bring back Vedanta because this mine was dying. With those good conditions, if Vedanta fails to honor in an event Vedanta fails to honor they have to go,” said Kang’ombe.
Vedanta Resources has announced a new one billion United States dollars additional investment for the next five years to be used for paying creditors, 20 percent salary increment and investing in Social Corporate Responsibility among others.
